Take Me There - erotic book by Cleis Press Inc. - review by freud13

All of the authors featured in this book write wonderful erotica that really speak to those of us who are queer, genderqueer, and trans. Each author brings their own unique perspective on gender, lust, queer, and what makes for hot sex. The editor of the book Tristan Taormino is someone that I been a fan of for many years. Tristan has put together a wonderful book with stories that represent a variety of gender expressions, body types, and sexual desires. Some of the authors include Rahne Alexander, Kate Bornstein, Gina De Vries, Giselle Renarde, Sinclair Sexsmith, Julia Serano, and a personal favorite of mine Ivan Coyote. The authors range from transmen and transwomen to self identified queers, femmes, genderqueers, and like Andrea Zanin a gender-fluid queer poly pervert. At the end of the book there is a list of all the authors with a blurb about each one of them, how they identify, and other projects that they are working on or have worked on in the past, and websites if they have one.

This collection of erotica is written by and for people who are queer, gendernqueer, trans, and who challenge gender norms. In the introduction to the book Tristan Taurmino says, "It's not simply about passing or not passing, which is an idea often explored with transgender characters, but about being acknowledged and desired in a sexual context." This statement is a powerful one to me because it is challenging to find erotica written in this genre that is sensual and hot while also being tender and non-fetishist.

Each story is this book comes from a different perspective and highlights different areas of each community so there is something for everyone in the queer spectrum no matter how you self identify. The underlying theme in each story is being seen as you actually are by your lover and being able to see them as they are, not necessarily what their physical body may say or society may say, but who they are in their soul and their sexual being. It takes the erotica to a deeper level in my opinion because it's not just about getting off but about recognizing another person and how they want to be seen. While the stories are certainly steamy there is an underlying current in all of them of respect and helping a partner feel at home in their gender expression.

In the story "The Perfect Gentleman" two strangers meet up in a town where they don't quite fit in and find a night of happiness together. The best part of the story is when they are starting to have sex and one is trying to find the words to say he has never been with a transwoman before. The situation is going downhill, but he recovers nicely and says "Tell me what you like". It's just 5 little words, but it changes the outcome of the evening and opens the communication.

In "Femme Fatigue" the main character's trans husband is a well known writer and the wife is tired of always being in the background on his book tours. She meets a lovely queer woman and goes off to have her own fun. While the story is hot, it brings up the frustrations for femmes who get mistaken for heterosexual particularly when partnered with transmen. The character discusses the feeling of losing her queerness and how to deal with that.

The story "Big Gifts in Small Boxes: A Christmas Story" the main character is home to see his family and goes to the local gay bar. He's trying to pick up this younger guy when the bartender informs him that that's no man, but a woman trying to pass for a man. The transguy leaves the bar and the main character chases him down. The result is some intensely hot sex scenes and a deeper look into the struggles of a gay transguy trying to find love.

All of the stories in the book are like this: very hot but with a deeper understanding of what those characters experience and how they want to be seen. I found a few stories that I could easily identify with and that friends and partners of mine could identify with as well. I will be loaning this book out to several friends so that they can experience the tender eroticism that this collection contains.

As in all erotica there are some fantasies and stories with more kink. There are multiple stories that feature bdsm, bondage, slave and master roleplays, a couple of bear/cub stories, and one or two that involve flagging and facials. Alternative pronouns like ze, hir, and hys are used. The editor explains the use of these in the introduction if someone is unfamiliar with these and why they might be used. There are a couple of stories that might be interpreted as offensive by some readers that use words like "faggot" in role play scenarios. These words fit with the fantasy and story, but everyone has had different experiences with language. There were a few parts of stories like that where I was not into the fantasy that I just skimmed over like a fantasy that involved getting punched, but it did not take away from the overall effect of the book.

As someone who has partnered with transpersons I am sensitive to fetishism towards transpersons in general and I feel like this book avoids that and focuses more on fetishes like facials and bdsm. These stories are written by transpersons,queers, and genderqueers so there is a lot of sensitivity in dealing with trans issues as well as a powerful voice for how different transpersons experience their sexual desires.

Here is a list of stories in the book: Cocksure; Now, Voyager; Hold Up; All-Girl Action; The Therapist and the Whore; Shoes are Meant to get You Somewhere; On Hys Knees; Tel Aviv; Taking the Toll; Dixie Belle; That's What Little Girls are Made of; Sea of Cortez; The Perfect Gentleman; Payback's A Bitch; Femme Fatigue; Small Blue Thing; The Visible Woman; Somebody's Watching Me; Punching Bag; You Don't Know Jack; Canadian Slim; The Hitchhiker; Out on Loan; From Fucktoy to Fuckstool; Self-Reflection; Face Pack; The Boy the Beast Wants; The Man with the Phoenix Tattoo; Big Gifts in Small Boxes: A Christmas Story.

The book is a paperback trade novel size with 293 pages. If someone looks at the cover it says trans and genderqueer erotica so it's obvious that it is erotica. The cover is not graphic but has a blurred image of what appears to be two people naked, but it is nothing obvious. The binding is very solid and that spine help up well to multiple readings. Sometimes with paperbacks that spine is easy to break, but this one is good. It is solidly bound. If this book were on your bookshelf it would be discreet and someone would have to see it laying out and look at the front cover to realize that it's erotica. It blends right in with my books and is subtle, not that I'm concerned with that but other people might be. It's small enough to tuck into a backpack or messenger bag easily.

For me this book felt like finding a piece of myself. It's hard to find quality genderqueer erotica that makes me feel sexy and features stories that I relate to or find myself thinking that I would like to try. As a genderqueer individual I sometimes like being more femme and other times want to have a masculine role in the bedroom and enjoy partners who are similar. It's hard to get that same level of hotness out of straight erotica or gay erotica because for me personally the gender bending falls into some world completely separate from a straight/gay dichotomy. It's more fluid than that and very open and this book perfectly captured that and made me want more. I need to see a second and third volume of this. I also like that Tristan Taormino gives credit to sites like nofauxxx.com (Courtney Trouble is a genius), Pink and White Productions, and Trannywood Pictures who all empower gender fluidity in a very hot and sensual way.